Page 51 of Bully (Fall Away #1)

Frustrated at our situation I strike another punch at the thug before me, except this time I unknowingly deliver the final blow.

His head hangs at an unnatural angle as blood spills from his orifices.

And I wait for the regret to come. As I do with every man I wait for the emotion that would make me an honorable man.

It never comes.

It never will.

“Perhaps if I purchase an Ouija Board we can talk to him from the dead,” Pietro quips and it falls on deaf ears. He glances between Rico and I and shakes his head in mock disappointment. “Tough crowd,” he mutters before leaving us with his phone to his ear sputtering orders to the cleaning crew.

I know my men well. Some would say I know them like the back of my hand. And I know the inevitable conversation Rico is about to begin.

I wait for it as I wipe the remaining blood from my knuckles on my ruined white dress shirt. I countdown the seconds as I wipe the sweat that has collected on my forehead with the back of my arm.

Just as I release a breath, a mere moment of relief from my tormented thoughts Rico says, “You’re not in control, Constantine.”

I respond dryly with a wry smile on my lips, “I’m well aware.”

His eyes assess me as they always do. Deciphering hidden codes and diving deep for the answer. Except this answer will be lost on him. Thanks to his condition he’ll never be able to understand it.

“How are we going to explain a dead man who belonged to The Fiore Famiglia?”

The thug, Warren DeSantis, was caught red handed trying to sabotage our trade business at the port.

And with feelings hurt from Luca I don’t put it past him to retaliate with unnecessary violence. If I wouldn’t give him control of the ports then he wouldn’t allow me to have control of them either.

Although the man didn’t confess, I’ll give the fucker that much credit, Gino confirmed him as one of Don Fiore’s soldiers with a photo sent to his burner.

This act of betrayal is enough to declare war.

But I can’t act without blowing Gino’s cover. And I still need him on the inside until Carina finally accepts the woman she is.

Only then can we put The Fiore Famiglia to rest.

“That’s what I pay you for, Rico. You have the strategic mind. Figure it out.” My tone is dismissive.

Unnatural to him he tilts his head to the side. “I wouldn’t have to if you kept your emotions in check.”

Most of the time I can tolerate Rico’s apathy. I even have come to find it amusing more than anything. And in this business I value it, more than anything.

Right now I’m running off of a short fuse. My blood thirst hasn’t been quenched. Not by a long shot. If anything, I feel as if I could kill a thousand more men and I still won’t be satisfied.

All because I long for the woman I love to admit her feelings for me in return.

Who would’ve known the Devil to be such a helpless hopeless romantic?

“Perhaps Constantine, you may have to accept that the woman you love has allowed her mind to win the fight rather than her heart.”

I scoff at him. “Do you even believe a word you just said?”

“You know I don’t.” He blinks. He regards the unrecognizable face of the man at my hands. His vacant eyes meet mine once again. “I never will. But I do understand the complexities of human beings. And Carina is a complex woman.”

I turn towards him, anger seeping in every pore. “You think I don’t know that?” My lips twist with fury and frustration. “You think that I don’t know the moral warfare she has thrust upon herself?” I advance towards him and he doesn’t budge an inch. I’m eye to eye with him. Emotions rolling off of me in a tangible wave. “I know everything about her as if her very soul is my own.”

“You’ve accepted her soul, Constantine. You’ve accepted her dead heart. You’ve accepted her before the darkness had a chance to claim her. You will always accept her. And for you it took hardly little time because you knew who you were from the second you were born. But Carina has not. She’s never found herself. She’s tied to two worlds and doesn’t know which one she belongs in.”

Logically I know he’s right. Logically I, myself, know this to be true. But my heart, that damned vessel that only beats for her begs for it not to be.